70 THE LAND OF THE LION 



a small black snake and holding it in my hand ran after 

 some of them, the way they "cleared" was a sight. One 

 evening four of them were lighting their little fire, after an 

 unusually hard, hot, march under a thickly growing 

 large-leaved tree; the pungent smoke curled up among 

 the branches and must have incommoded a fine green tree 

 snake that had also sought the tree's shelter against the 

 burning sun. My porters were lolling at their ease, when 

 into the very midst of the four tumbled the snake. The 

 yell they raised was so sudden and unearthly, that I ran 

 up with a rifle in great alarm. And it was some minutes 

 before I could even get an explanation from the thoroughly 

 scared men. 



In May, June, July, and August, as well as in October, 

 I can, from personal experience, vouch for the fact that 

 here it rains almost every afternoon. Sefari life is none the 

 worse for such a rainfall, indeed, in many ways it makes 

 the hunting better, as tracking can be done and camps made, 

 when during a rainless period it would be difficult to hunt 

 or camp. The flowers, too, are out, mushrooms grow 

 (which, in a land where there are no vegetables, is impor- 

 tant), and the country is green and lovely. The day's 

 work can be done before the afternoon storm rolls up. 

 Indeed, I much prefer the rainy season for hunting. Its 

 one and only drawback is the difficulty that sometimes arises 

 in saving your headskins. The rain, in East Africa, comes 

 in a way all its own. Probably you notice a little cloud, 

 and not a verv dark one, that circles round half the horizon 



J * 



for an hour or more. "It may rain," you say, "but it 

 won't be much. There is clear sky all round the cloud, 

 and beneath it. If it does come, it will quickly rain itself 

 out." Still, on it comes, and it seems to grow bigger as it 

 moves, and as its fringes draw over you it begins to rain 

 rain hard, big, heavy drops, every one of which hits, as they 

 come, and you feel them land with a cool pat, and sink in. 



